FinMin says Pakistan has rebuilt fiscal buffers, eyes sustainable growth at Doha Forum

Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb projected a confident message of economic stabilisation and forward-looking reform at the Doha Forum, telling a high-level panel that Pakistan has “rebuilt fiscal buffers, restored external balance and is now shifting decisively from stabilisation to sustainable growth.”

Speaking at the session ‘Global Trade Tensions: Economic Impact and Policy Responses in MENA’, on Saturday the minister said, Pakistan is ’embarking on the right path of reform and resilience’, crediting the post–IMF programme overhaul for easing pressures at a time when global trade disruptions, tariff shifts, and geo-economic rivalry are reshaping economies across the Middle East and North Africa.

“This period of uncertainty demands adaptability,” Aurangzeb said, noting Pakistan’s prudent engagement with the US on tariff measures, securing a relatively favourable 19 per cent tariff on key textile exports, and accelerating diversification of both markets and products, most notably fast-rising IT services exports expected to touch $4 billion this year.

Qatar’s Minister of Finance Ali Bin Ahmed Al Kuwari termed Pakistan a ‘brother country’ and confirmed that the GCC–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, the first such FTA concluded by the Gulf bloc in years, would usher in a new phase of regional trade flows.

Calling the FTA ‘a major strategic milestone’, he said the agreement would deepen Pakistan–Gulf cooperation in energy, agriculture, textiles, and increasingly, advanced technologies.

Al Kuwari highlighted Pakistan’s rising talent pool in AI and digital sectors, saying Qatar was keen on collaborating in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and skill development.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li commended Pakistan for making ‘significant strides’ in fiscal discipline and resilience-building. He reiterated the Fund’s commitment through the $1.3 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which supports green budgeting, climate-risk assessments, and financing for climate-resilient infrastructure.

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Aurangzeb warned, however, that climate change posed a more immediate existential threat than geopolitics, pointing out that this year’s floods alone shaved 0.5 per cent off Pakistan’s GDP.

He also flagged Pakistan’s ‘third-largest global freelancer base’, saying the next digital leap, from basic coding to AI and blockchain, could push earnings up from $10–12 per hour to $60–250 for specialised skills.

Later in the day, Aurangzeb and Al Kuwari held a meeting where both sides committed to operationalising opportunities created by the FTA and deepening LNG, trade, and technology cooperation.

The two ministers agreed to create structured mechanisms for collaboration in AI capability development, climate resilience, and investment facilitation.

On a separate panel, discussing the evolving US–China relationship, Hina Rabbani Khar, Chairperson of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, warned that the selective use of economic and human rights sanctions was fragmenting the global system.

The discussion examined how countries, especially across the Global South, are balancing ties with both Washington and Beijing amid rising rivalry, and whether the emerging landscape is drifting towards fragmentation or a more pluralistic order.